12 percent of Goa under Lokayukta scanner: CM

Panaji, Feb 6 (IANS) Over 12 percent of Goa's population will come under the Lokayukta scanner, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said Wednesday.

"Everyone, including politicians, bureaucrats, sarpanches (village headmen) and NGOs who get funding of Rs.1 lakh plus from the government, will come under the ambit of Lokayukta. Volumes of frivolous complaints will make the organisation less effective," Parrikar told reporters here.

"Over 12 percent of Goa's population comes under the ambit of Lokayukta," he said.

Parrikar has come under fire from civil society for making a host of controversial amendments to the state's Lokayukta law, including introduction of a fine of up to Rs.1 million on those making "false and frivolous" complaints to the anti-corruption institution.

Other controversial amendments that have also been criticised in the public domain by BJP's executive committee members include: declarations of the Lokayukta to lapse if chief minister's office fails to take cognizance of the same in three months and enabling ministers indicted of corruption to hang on to their posts instead of making their resignations mandatory.

Parrikar now claims he is willing to again look at these amendments provided he is "convinced" they are detrimental to the interests of the Lokayukta.